


Without Even Falling Off

by LadyShadowphyre



Series: With/Without [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Background implied Lucifer/Kelly Kline, Background unrequited Uriel/Lucifer, Elopement For Practical Reasons, Heart To Heart Moments, Jewish Winchesters, John Winchester's A+++ Parenting, Lucifer (Supernatural) is called Lucien, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Rich Winchesters (Supernatural), Soulmate Identifying Timers, Supportive Castiel (Supernatural), Supportive Dean Winchester, Supportive Sam Winchester, Trans Gabriel (Supernatural), background sastiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-01-31 16:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21448999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/pseuds/LadyShadowphyre
Summary: Dean Winchester considered himself to be a fairly simple man with fairly simple needs. He had his car and he had his brother. Like everyone else around him, he had a mystical clock that counted down to the moment he would meet his soulmate, but it hadn't really felt real, more like a distant sort of nebulous "someday" that would either come or not. Then he met Gabriel and found himself reevaluating a lot of things he'd thought he knew about himself, but there was no denying he was in this for the long haul.
Relationships: Gabriel/Dean Winchester
Series: With/Without [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1527338
Comments: 12
Kudos: 63





	Without Even Falling Off

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BranHowe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BranHowe/gifts).

> Written for the SPN Song Challenge Bingo square: "Pony" by Ginuwine  
Written for the Heaven & Hell Bingo square: Soulmates

**D**EAN WINCHESTER CONSIDERED himself to be a fairly simple man with fairly simple needs. He had his car, a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala that had belonged to his dad, and he had his brother, a six-foot-five genius on track to become a lawyer specializing in family cases. Like everyone else around him, he had a mystical clock that counted down to the moment he would meet his soulmate, but it hadn't really felt real, more like a distant sort of nebulous "someday" that would either come or not. He had always had other things to worry about, like raising Sammy when their Dad would check out on them, disappearing on some job or another or disappearing into a bottle. Sam didn't really remember how bad it had been during those first hard years after their mother's death, he'd been way too young for that, and Dean was more than happy to let him forget, hiding the pain and fear Dean had felt as a child of barely five trying to cope with the loss of his mother and, in a lot of ways, his father, too, until their Uncle Bobby stepped in and helped Dean talk John Winchester into finally getting some real help, for Sammy's sake.

Even then, Dean's priorities had always focused on Sammy, keeping him safe and happy and helping him reach for what he wanted out of life. He was content to make passing grades in his own classes while Sam soared ahead of his peers, to defer college in order to pick up a job at Uncle Bobby's salvage yard in order to stay close while Sam finished school and celebrate around the lump in his throat when his awesome little brother got a full-ride scholarship to Stanford. He'd stood up to John when their father had freaked out over Sam going off to college so far away, reassured the man that Sam wasn't abandoning them, that he was still family. John had kept things so close to the vest that Dean hadn't understood why his father was so upset about Sam leaving until he came home from his shift at the garage and found John collapsed on the kitchen floor.

Cancer wasn't something that could be beaten with fists or a gun or more alcohol, but damned if John hadn't tried his best to do it anyway and ignored it the rest of the time until he couldn't anymore. Dean did his duty as the elder son and took care of John as best he could, then called Sam when he couldn't anymore and made sure his brother had the chance to fly out and be there in their father's last days. They'd buried him together, in the plot next to their mother, and then Dean had gently bullied Sam into going back to Stanford to finish his degree. He had Bobby, and his job, and the Impala would carry him to Palo Alto and back as easy as you please any time he wanted. He'd be fine.

_ They'd _ be fine.

And then the lawyers found him and he'd had to cope with more shocking family secrets and revelations, and that promise of being "fine" had really been put to the test as he and Sam flailed and floundered and figured out how to swim in the deep end of high society their grandparents on _ both _ sides had simultaneously thrown them into from beyond the grave. They'd created the personas of "Dean Michael and Samuel William Campbell-Winchester" and kept them as far removed from "Sam and Dean" as possible to the point where Dean had bought out Detroit Auto Paint and Body Works with part of his inheritance and had promptly gone to work there pretending he was just another employee and not the owner. The wristbands to hide their timers had been practical, another layer of defense against the vulture eyes of the wealthy elite, but it hadn't made that much of a difference to Dean. He'd been ignoring his timer for years already anyway, it's not like it was going to matter how fast the numbers on his wrist were counting down to zero.

And then Fate decided to be a sassy bitch.

He had been under the hood of a beautiful 1969 Lamborghini Miura someone had custom painted a bright glittery metallic teal (which should have been a _ crime _ to do to a gorgeous lady like this) replacing the seals and a cracked hose that were well past due to be swapped out for newer rubber. Fortunately, he'd had a decent selection of replacement engine parts and seals for a variety of classic cars kept in stock because one never knew when a gorgeous beast would be brought in to them, and it was even odds the owner would be some elderly person who'd bought it new forty years ago and cared for it until they couldn't get under the hood themselves anymore, or some rich brat who'd bought it at auction with Daddy's money and didn't have the patience to learn how to so much as change the oil. This one, despite the obnoxious paint job, was feeling more like the former given how everything else felt well-cared for and attended to, and Dean knew seals like this weren't exactly easy to come by outside a specialist like his shop.

Wiping his hands on one of the handy shop rags, he'd lowered the hood of the Lamborghini and swiped away a tiny smudge of grease before grabbing the clipboard with the work log heading towards the main waiting area of the shop to tell Lisa that the car was done and she could ring up the total bill through financing. He was pushing open the door just as he heard a stressed out male voice saying, "Please, just tell me who I have to blow to get my car back before Judgement Day!"

"Well, if you're looking for a '69 Lamborghini, you can take me to dinner first," Dean had drawled as he pushed the rest of the way into the main reception, flipping over the papers to the beginning as he had looked up--

_ BEEP-BEEP! _

Dean had stared, his eyes locked with the glittering golden eyes of a man in a suit that looked like it belonged on the "Campbell-Winchester Heir" side of Dean's closet, as the sharp tingling heat flared through his wrist in time with the simultaneous chimes of two timers reaching zero. Neither of them had seemed to know what to say, and no one else in the shop had dared interrupt the tableau... until the guy's cell phone had started going off. Dean had watched in bemusement as the guy - his _ soulmate _ \- had flushed a dark pink and fumbled for the phone, getting it open and saying, "Hey, Cassie, tell Dad I won't be home tonight, I just met my soulmate, promise I'll explain later, bye!" before hanging up. "Uh, so... hi?"

"Hi," Dean had echoed. "Lamborghini?"

"Yeah," the guy ducked his head in embarrassment, but when he had looked up again there was a bit more sparkle in his eyes. "So, dinner first, then blowjobs?"

"Sure, why not?" Dean had presented the clipboard to a giggling Lisa and stepped forward. "How about we start with names so we know what to scream later?"

And that had been how Dean had met Gabriel Gotteskrieger. That first night together had covered a lot of territory, from the fact that Gabe had his car painted glittery teal to annoy his father but did all the basic maintenance on it himself, to the fact that Dean's previous preference for women wasn't so much a mistake as an awkward misfire on the fact that Gabriel had been born with the wrong bits, as he'd put it. Dean had already figured that if he was going to have a dude exception in his chick appreciation that it would be his soulmate, and he said as much to Gabriel before gently slowing things down and working out the boundaries on what they could do together without making Gabriel uncomfortable. Mutual blowjobs, it turned out, were just fine so long as no penetration happened, and Gabe had been on T long enough that Dean had enough to work with while learning his way around sucking dick.

The official engagement of Gabriel Gotteskrieger and Dean Michael Campbell-Winchester was just as much of a headache-inducing circus as Dean had feared any engagement he might have would be times two. The Gotteskriegers weren't quite on the same level of stupidly rich as he and Sam suddenly were, but they were still in the top ten. Societal expectations meant a big extravagant wedding following a lengthy engagement period, and considering the families' respective fortunes there were certain contracts that needed to be drawn up regarding how much wealth Gabriel's marriage to Dean would be transferring out of his family's holdings and into which accounts under what names it would be going. The first time Sam had met Gabriel was actually via teleconference for the initial contract write-up where Sam flexed his fledgeling legalese and lawyer-speak to ensure that Gabriel retained his share of his own family fortune and had access to a joint account with Dean.

"This would be so much easier if we could elope," Dean had groaned.

_ "Well, why can't you?" _ Sam had asked, looking through the camera from Dean to Gabriel. _ "It would solve a lot of short-term problems for you both, especially for Gabe's surgery, and we'd just keep it quiet until the big formal ceremony in front of all of Society." _

"Could we?" Dean had asked, glancing over at Gabriel, who'd looked thoughtful.

"It's risky," he had warned. "If my parents found out about it, they'd throw a fit, but as far as witnesses go I really just want Cassie there and he won't tell our parents a damn thing if I ask him not to. Kid's got a lot of heart, and he was the first to accept me as his brother."

_ "I can fly out over whatever weekend you choose to do this," _ Sam had assured them, anticipating Dean as he so often did. _ "Just promise not to leave me sitting at the airport for three hours again, jerk." _

"I promise, Sammy," Dean had said, completely serious, and Sam's expression had softened as he nodded.

He'd kept that promise, too, picking Sam up outside the Detroit Airport two weeks later. Sam had tossed his duffel bag into the Impala's back seat as he slid into the passenger seat like he'd never left and the two of them had headed for the jewelry store to pick up the rings Dean had ordered made. The platinum bands and engraved compass rose around the single diamond in each were perfect, elegant and understated and still quirky and masculine, easily "mistaken" for engagement rings, and Dean hoped the symbolism of them being each other's "true north" would make Gabe smile. That didn't stop him from needing Sam to metaphorically hold his hand as he forked over the card to pay the jeweler three thousand dollars. One day maybe he would get used to having more money than God, but today was _ not _ that day.

Getting the text from Gabe about his brother's friend had been a surprise, and while Dean didn't see a problem with the friend tagging along he trusted Sam's instincts and had let his brother out at the cafe while he went on to the courthouse. Paperwork would never be Dean's idea of a good time, but for Gabriel he could and would buckle down and get as much filled out as possible for them. Filing for the marriage license four days ago had been enough of a hassle with the both of them having to apply in person with their IDs and then wait three days to get the license so they could do this at all. They were lucky the county clerk's office had been willing to mail the license to Dean only and that he and Gabriel were definitely over eighteen, because getting Gabe _ and _ his brother out to California with Dean without their parents finding out why they were going would have been even more of a hassle.

His phone chimed at him and Dean paused in copying the marriage license information over to the courthouse forms in order to check it, expecting a text from either Gabe or Sam to say that they were on their way over. The text proved to be from Gabe, but the content was _ not _ what Dean had expected at all.

_ Cassie and Sam are soulmates. Cassie spilled coffee on Sam, so they're gonna go get him new clothes while I talk Uri down from a tantrum. Love you! _

....Well, damn.

**G** ABRIEL WAVED HIS brother and brother-in-law-to-be-twice-over off and settled back into his chair to regard Uriel with a considering gaze. The insulting diatribe that had spewed forth in the wake of the disastrous Coffee Upset and the simultaneous timer chime was not precisely out of character for the younger Tadarusati, who tended more towards the high society airs than his sister Raphael did, but it _ had _ been considerably more vitriolic than expected. Wordlessly, Gabriel slid his cup of coffee towards Uriel, who rather obliviously picked it up and took a sip on automatic without actually tasting it, and pulled out his phone to send a quick text to Dean to update him on the situation. The "Love you!" at the end was a spur of the moment addition, meant to be reassurance that this was only a minor delay, and he wasn't surprised when his phone chimed with the return text.

_ I'll hold down the fort until y'all get here, babe. Love you, too. _

Gabriel suppressed his smile and tucked his phone away before stealing his coffee back and sliding the cup the waitress brought over into place in front of Uriel. "So," he drawled, tilting his head to one side as he studied Uriel. "Lucien's a giant bag of dicks."

"Colossal," Uriel mumbled, scrubbing a hand over his face before looking up. "In your honest opinion, how much trouble am I in for...."

"Going nuclear Society Snob on Sam Campbell-Winchester right after his and Cassie's timers went off?" Gabriel filled in. Uriel winced and hung his head. "Scale of one to ten? Probably about a five. Sam's easygoing when he's not putting on the Heir Mask for the vultures and so long as you apologize and mean it then you'll be forgiven as far as he's concerned and _ he _ won't rat you out to his much less forgiving older brother."

It was completely true, too. Sam was the forgiving sort most of the time unless someone hurt Dean, and Gabriel was coming to understand that the younger Winchester's care for his family extended to more than just the brothers' blood relations. Dean, for all his compassion for his brother and soulmate, was much less forgiving of slights towards his family, and despite not having been raised in Society he showed a terrifying understanding of how the social elite networking worked and how to use it to his advantage. As Dean had put it, _ "High society's just like high school, except with more money and most of these idiots haven't outgrown the clique and gossip phase." _

"He won't, but you might?" Uriel asked, sighing as he brought up one hand to rub his eyes. "Fine, what's your price?"

"A sincere apology to Sam and a promise to stop and think before you judge someone by their appearance and go off on them like a raging dickmonkey," Gabriel answered evenly. He regarded Uriel's surprised expression with a measured stare. "Troubles with Lucien aside, you were extremely rude to someone you didn't know beyond that he and Castiel are soulmates, and you embarrassed your best friend with your attitude. Cassie's the forgiving sort too, maybe as forgiving as Sam, but he's got his limits."

"May I ask you something?" Uriel said after a moment, tracing the rim of his coffee mug with one finger. Gabriel nodded. "Why _ was _ he dressed in cheap off the rack jeans and flannel? Why are _ you? _ Why... You both can afford much better quality, so why wear something so... _ plebian _?"

Gabriel sighed. "I'm not sure if I can explain this one without breaking certain confidences, so you're going to keep the answer to yourself, got me?" Uriel nodded, eyes wide. "You know the Campbell-Winchester brothers weren't raised in high society despite their ability to blend in as if they had been. Thing is, they grew up in... shall we say, _ extremely _ humble conditions."

"Welfare?" Uriel asked with quiet trepidation.

"You have to have a permanent address to qualify for welfare and food stamps," Gabriel said gently. Uriel was starting to look ashen again, the full impact of his pointed comments about thrift stores coming home to roost. Gabriel took a long swallow of his coffee and set the empty cup down again. "Look, Uri, I get it. I grew up surrounded by the same silver spoons as you, and I had to readjust my views quite a bit, too. I can only hope Dean doesn't realize how much he would have hated me if we'd met at one of those society galas instead of the garage. Places like Target and K-Mart are certainly going to be beneath the notice of assholes like Lucien, but they carry sturdy, solid, comfortable clothing. I've actually gotten more good use out of these Wranglers than half the rest of my closet put together. You know I do my own maintenance on the Miura, but Dean's been teaching me the ins and outs of the more complex kinds of repairs. We're not going to do that wearing Dolce & Gabbana. You following?"

"Adapting to the surroundings and situations you're in," Uriel said. He was still looking rather troubled. "And you really think Sam will just... forgive me? Just like that?"

"The sincere apology will help," Gabriel reminded him, "but yeah. Sam's a way better person than either of us. Dean, too, if not quite as much of a bleeding saint as his brother. It wouldn't surprise me if the moment they hear about the shit Lucien's pulling, they offer to take you out for beers to get your mind off it and strategize how to make him thoroughly regret treating you like trash the way he is."

"He's supposed to be my soulmate," Uriel whispered, pained and almost broken.

"The timers only count down to when we _ meet _," Gabriel said. "That doesn't mean we're ready when it happens."

"You were."

"No, I really wasn't," Gabriel laughed softly with all the self-deprecation he'd learned since meeting a stunning pair of green eyes. "But I'm getting there, with Dean's help. Lucien's not there yet and he won't ever admit he needs the help unless someone makes him."

"Castiel suggested that maybe I'm supposed to tell him 'no' until he's ready to treat me like a person," Uriel said to his cup of coffee. "Is he right? Am I supposed to just... wash my hands of Lucien until he stops being awful, just... abandon our bond?"

"Cassie's got pretty good instincts when it comes to these things," Gabriel said, reaching out to pat Uriel on the back of the hand. "Don't think of it as abandoning Lucien. Think of it as taking care of yourself first. And speaking of taking care of yourself, your coffee's getting cold."

**D** ESPITE HIS TREPIDATION over the paperwork, Dean was finished well before he got the text from Sam that he and "Cas" were on their way. A moment later, a responding text came in from Gabriel saying he and "Uri" would bring everyone more coffee if everyone would send him their orders. Sam responded back with two fairly similar coffee orders, either one of which could have been his, and his thanks. Dean responded back with _ "Black coffee and a kiss from my handsome fiance?" _ and grinned when he got a sideways heart in reply.

Of course, then he was stuck waiting for them all to get there, holding the completed paperwork and doing his best to ignore the curious and occasionally pitying looks from various people walking past. Nosy idiots... He could just imagine what they must be thinking to see him sitting alone with the clipboard of papers and look at him with pity, and he held onto his good mood through sheer force of will. The relief when he finally heard Gabriel's voice coming down the hall towards him almost shocked him, but he shoved it aside to stand up and greet his fiance with a smile. "Best sight I've seen all day!"

"Spoken like a true caffeine junkie," Gabriel snarked as he held out the travel coffee cup, gold eyes twinkling. Dean snorted and took the cup, then stepped in and snaked an arm around Gabriel's waist as he pulled the shorter man in for a slow, lingering kiss.

"Who needs caffeine?" he murmured against his fiance's lips, and chuckled when Gabriel breathlessly called him a sap.

"You two are perfect for one another," the blue eyed man standing close to Sam said as Dean and Gabriel separated, the look on his face indicating there was something more behind the words than simply an acknowledgement of their soulbond.

"You must be Castiel," Dean said, reluctantly disengaging his arm from around Gabriel to offer a handshake, which was accepted. Now that he was looking for it, he could see the family resemblance in the cheekbones and the shape of their eyes, but otherwise Castiel and Gabriel looked about as much alike as he and Sam did.

"And you're Dean," Castiel nodded and released Dean's hand. "Thank you for making my brother so happy. If you ever seriously hurt him or break his heart, I will rip you to shreds and salt and burn the remains."

"Right back at'cha if you hurt Sammy," Dean promised, meeting Castiel's stare. The two of them shared a long look full of the understanding of protective brothers everywhere, then nodded. Beside Castiel, Sam rolled his eyes.

"If you two are done," he said pointedly, "Dean, is that the paperwork?"

"Yep," Dean said, popping the 'p' as he passed the paperwork over. "Pretty sure I filled out everything we need on there, but give it a look for us before we go turn it in and get our turn in front of the Justice of the Peace, yeah?"

"Can I ask why you're choosing to elope now rather than wait for the formal ceremony?" asked the other unfamiliar man, hesitantly. Dean guessed this was the "Uriel" Gabe had texted him about, the one with the soulmate troubles.

"Practicality, mostly," Gabriel answered for him, leaning against Dean's side. Dean put his arm back around Gabriel as his soulmate went on, "We're definitely getting married and spending the rest of our lives together, so it doesn't really matter too much when we file the paperwork before the big ceremony with the canopy and glass-breaking and all that, but having it now makes some other things easier on us."

"Canopy?" Castiel whispered to Sam.

"We're Jewish, so the formal ceremony will be incorporating some Jewish traditions like the chuppah," Sam murmured back. "Though there's probably going to need to be some practice involved with two grooms breaking the glass at the end."

"I see," Uriel said, frowning at the travel coffee cup he was holding in thought. "Perhaps... no, the courthouse would probably look askance at having one of you break a glass here."

"Not on this carpet," Dean agreed, grimacing. "We'll figure it out, either coordinate our right feet or Gabe can be the groom to break it."

"Or you can, since you're the one who's Jewish," Gabriel pointed out. "I'm still not sure if I want to convert or not."

"Totally up to you either way," Dean assured him. "If you decide you want to, I'll brush up on my Hebrew to help you study, but it's just fine if you don't."

"Should I look into converting?" Castiel asked, glancing up at Sam who looked surprised to be asked.

"Like Dean said, it's up to you, and it's definitely not something to decide on a whim just because your soulmate happens to be Jewish, any more than deciding on changing your name," he answered. "And speaking of which... name change to 'Gabriel Gotteskrieger-Winchester'?"

"I'm not giving up my awesome alliteration just because I'm getting hitched," Gabriel said in a flippant tone. Dean squeezed slightly and Gabriel pressed closer to his side in response. "Although, Cassie should seriously consider taking your full surname for the alliteration potential, Samarooni."

"I'll take that under advisement, Gabriel," Castiel intoned over Sam's splutter. Glancing up at his taller soulmate, the blue-eyed man added, "We are obviously going to take some time to get to know one another better, but you should know that I have every intention of marrying you if or when you decide you wish to marry me."

"Duly noted," Sam rasped, a flush on his cheeks. Dean thought his younger brother looked incredibly happy even as off-balance as he was clearly feeling, and he couldn't help but think that Castiel was going to be as good for Sam as Gabriel had been for him. Sam cleared his throat, then, flipping the papers back to the beginning. "You're all set. Are you guys gonna want pictures for this, or...?"

"I can do that," Uriel offered, pulling out a sleek razor phone and wiggling it. "I know including me was rather last minute, so I might as well make myself useful."

"You sure?" Dean asked, remembering Sam's warning that Uriel might not be keen on even attending. Uriel shrugged.

"It's not like I'm going to take part in any other weddings any time soon," he said. The words were innocuous enough on the surface, but Castiel gasped and stared at his friend like he'd just announced he was moving to the moon. Beside him, Sam put a hand on his soulmate's shoulder and gave Uriel his own concerned look.

"You sure?" he asked, echoing Dean, but with a whole different meaning behind the words than Dean had meant.

"Gabriel said something earlier that stuck with me," Uriel murmured with a shrug. "Lucien may never be ready to acknowledge our bond, or even treat me with the respect due a fellow human being, but I think I'm ready to stop waiting for him."

"Oh thank God!" Castiel breathed, and gave his friend an unrepentant grin when Uriel scowled and aimed a mock punch towards his shoulder while Sam just shook his head at them both and smiled.

"Think we're ready for this, babe?" Dean asked Gabriel softly, looking down at his soon-to-be-husband and relaxing as Gabriel beamed up at him.

"You know what? I do," he said. "I really do."

**=End=**


End file.
